Non-Commital Historical Interpretation

I don't often have engaging listening experiences while listening to concert music in the car. Often this type of music, unless it's a fairly light piece just meant for entertainment, requires my undivided attention to appreciate and consider. Sometimes, though, my attention is forceably wrenched from the road and my (always very safe and courteous) driving to be focused elsewhere. This was the case a few days ago as I heard the Bach Brandenburg no. 1 performed with baroque flutes and modern strings.

The very different timbres struck me immediately and hard. It got me thinking, though, about historical instrumentation and what is and isn't appropriate and what should or shouldn't be. Now, for me, this performance (I won't mention the ensemble name here) was difficult to listen to and for the wrong reasons. The brightness of the steel violin strings against the much quieter and warmer baroque flute sounds had a clangy off-putting effect that drew so much away from the conversation that ought to occur in this piece. Sure, there's a decided contrast in timbres from one statement to the next--that's maybe the whole point of the piece--but such universally different soundworlds struck me as a comic lampooning of what is at its core a modest and elegant piece.

I once had it said to me that playing Bach's WTC no.1 C Major prelude shouldn't be romanticized as that wouldn't have been Bach's intent at the time and it wouldn't have even been possible on a clavier in the 18th Century. I found that to be problematic, though, as it was being played on a contemporary piano that's capable of so many more expressive subtleties than anything Bach would have been accustomed to. Why would an artist not take the opportunity to evoke all of the shades of meaning that are extant in a piece and possible on an instrument? Because it's a more historically accurate interpretation? I disagree. A historically accurate interpretation would necessarily be on an instrument that the piece was conceived for and in the original tuning. Then performance practice should be historically accurate (or as accurate as we know). That's a rendering that's honoring the context of the piece and reminding the listener of what Bach was hearing. No performance on a piano will ever be reasonably striving for that goal, so play the instrument as beautifully as you can.

I suppose the point I'm trying to make here is that if you're going to make the effort to recreate a historic performance (let's leave composer intent--which is unknowable--out of it), it's best to commit and strive for a true historically accurate rendering. Otherwise, allow the work to communicate itself to our contemporary environment. Let it be a living, breathing piece.

#Performance #PerformancePractice #Timbre #Bach #Historical #Interpretation